On numerous levels, the United States continues to fall farther behind China in public diplomacy. This is yet another indication that for all its protestations about its commitment to reach out to foreign publics, the U.S. government is unwilling to commit the resources needed to do so effectively.

Many of the causes, consequences and implications of the popular unrest sweeping the Arab world and Iran are topics of heated debate. However, one outcome is without dispute: the "freedom to connect" has become the newest, high-profile irritant in United States-China relations.

China has warned the US not to use calls for internet freedom as an excuse to meddle in other countries' affairs. The foreign ministry comments came after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced an initiative to help dissidents around the world get past government internet controls.

The Japanese embassy in Beijing has officially launched a micro blog, attracting more than 5,000 fans in just two days. According to Japanese Ambassador Uichiro Niwa, the micro blog will introduce his schedule as well as various activities related to Sino-Japanese relations.

Costa Rica is the only country in Central America to recognize China and by lavishing such gifts on them Beijing is attempting what could be called ‘Public Diplomacy by-proxy’; where the other mainly poorer Central American Republics begin to diplomatically salivate after witnessing Costa Rica’s special treatment. Whether this works or not remains to be seen as no other Central American Republic has followed suit.

Let me begin by describing a scenario to you.

It’s Wednesday night in Costa Rica, about 8.30pm, and people in Costa Rica, as people do in most countries, are watching prime-time television. On this particular night, Costa Rica takes on their neighbors Venezuela in a soccer match and, due to the mass popularity of soccer in Costa Rica, it is drawing a large audience. Costa Rica scores, and after endless replays and analysis of a truly average goal, the action cuts to a "and here’s the reaction in China" sequence of pictures.

On the same day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will give a major speech on protecting freedom of information, especially in cyberspace, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a report criticizing the U.S. government for failing to confront the Chinese government's Internet censorship policies.